The Portland daily press., 1887-12-10
EAST INpIAMEN.
The Ship Portland, Her Owners and
Her Voyages.
Navigating the Mediterranean under
Difficulties.
instruction to shIpmasters Hun
dred Years Ago.
Hon. william GooId.l


knowing the particulars.
In 1856 the city was besieged by Surajah
Dowlah with large force. The English
garrison Of the citadel, under Mr.. Howell,
held out as long as possible. There was
then no Gen. Havelock fighting his way In to
their suecor. as at Lucknow under similar
circumstances 100 years later. There was
no slogan Of the Highlanders at the head Of
the relieving column to strike the ear OF the
\ Scotch lass in her despair. At Calcutta the
garrison was compelled 10 surrender, and
14O men, with Mr.. Howell, were driven into
strong dungeon only eighteen feet square.
The only breathing holes in the wall were two
small barred Sits, both on the same side. The
suffering for fresh air commenced immedi-
| ately, and at daylight the next morning when
the door was opened. only the commander
and twenty-five Of his men were alive. 1913
had suffered a shocking death from thirst
| and suffocation. Mr.. Howell the comman-
der, was the great grandfather Of our Mr..
| HenIy Deering.
| The mention Of Calcutta also calls up the
| entrance Of my name on a ships papers as a
hand before the mast, fifty-fve years ago.
| The circumstances were these: In 1882
was going TO Boston to buy goods. and my
| partner, much older than myself, wanted me
to get an India voyage for his son. a
boy Of seventeen or eighteen, who in
sisted upon going to sea. We bought woolen
| goods of A. &. A. Lawrence & Co. in Liber-
| ty Square. Amos Lawrence, the philan-
| thropist. Abbot Lawrence, who afterwards
represented the United States at the English
1 - fx.fo
and founded the city bearing his name, and
| j. Wylie Edmonds, who became a represen-
tative to Congress. Quite noted firm. The
| firm name / think is yet kept up, but all
/ those above named are dead. My partner,
| an old friend of the Lawrences, whom he en-
| tertained at his home when they came to
| Portland, gave me letter to Abbot Law
renee, asking him to assist me In obtaining a
voyage for the boy On reading the letter
| to Calcutta by ship belonging to Mark
| Healy. Perhaps he will at our request give
| the boy place In the ship. will send one
/ Of our b00kkeepers with you to ask the Ia
i vOr." This bOOkkeeper was Charles III. Par
| ker, who himself became Boston merchant.
In answer to the request Healy said, we
i can load our ship with rich mems sons, who
| will serve without wages, but at the request
| of Mr.. Lawrence we Will takeithe boy at SIX
| dollars per month. We must clear the ship
| at the custom house this afternoon-all the
i crews names must be ON the shipping pa
| pers; you must ship in the boys place, and
| Ii you do not get him here by the time the
| ship is ready we shall take you to Calcutta. =
| Consequently l shipped on board the good
| ship Gibraltar, Capt. Spaulding, for Bombay
| and return, at six dollars per month, with
| Mr.. Parker as my surety that would be on
| board She was one OF the kettie-DOtt0med
ships Of the time, built TO carry q large car
| 90. and avoid large tonnage duties. DO my
| question, What does your cargo consist OF p
| Capt. Spaulding, who was present, said: I:
"Spelter aud rum in the hold, and missiona.:
| ries between decks"-there were eighteen OF
| them "Spelter," was simply another name
| for pewter, when it was in flat plates or bars.
| The other commodities of the cargo, rum
i and missionaries" perhaps 1t Is not necessa-
| ry to define. The boy arrived in time, and !
| was relieved. The young man from this be-
| ginning. became an accomplished shipmaster,
| sailing. g.several years in the employ OF ship
i ping firm in Charleston, >. c., but he died
| early of consumption. He was the father Of
Mr.. Isaac f. Clark, the treasurer Of the Odd
Fellows Relief.
Before the arrival Of the Portland at Cal
| cutta, one of the owners, Joseph Jewett,
| died at his home in Portland on the 18th Of
| July, 1896 His widow, Mrs. Ruth Jewett
made Thomas @. Amory, merchant of
| Boston, her business agent. The papers
which have relating to the ship, commence
| with the selling Of the Calcutta cargo in
Boston, showing that she arrived there pre-
/ Nl0us W ocptculUCls 1tJts 1nC tdA6 NOn-
sisted of 1851 bags Of sugar. 113 bales of silk
| and cotton goods (mum Of the piece goods
| bore very ugly names) 26 tons Of ginger, and
| a lot of indigo and other goods. The Calcut-
ia invoices are In rupees at 80 cents each.
| Then Preble, the managing owner, went to
| Boston and sold a part Of the cargo. Some
| goods were sold to Portland parties, among
| them Stevens & Hoyey, merchants, who
| built the Anderson houses on Free street.
| Some Of the cargo was divided by the own
| ers. Most Of the sugar was started" from
| the bags into hogsheads, and exported to the
On the 10th Of October, 1877, Thomas c.
| Amory. attorney for Ruth Jewett, sold her
| third Of the ship to the captain, Seth Storer,
| for 19,5co0 dollars. This price indicates that
| the Portland was first class vessel. The
| ship Massachusetts, built In the town Of
| Quincy in 1889. for Major Samuel Shaw, OF
| Boston, Consul to China, for an East India
| trader, of eight hundred tons, and mounting
/ twenty guns, after one voyage to Batavia,
| was sold at Canton to the Danish East India
company for only S65,00o.
| After the settling up OF the Calcutta
| voyage. Gray sold his one-third Of the Port
| land to Capt, Nathaniel Silsby OF Salem, so
| that in the fall Of 1877 the owners OF the ship
were Preble, Storer, and Silsbee In equal
| parts. -
| England, who commenced hi. reign in the
| year 925 was such an enc0urager OF COM
| merce as to make law that every merchant
| who made three voyages on his own account,
| to the Mediterranean, should be put on
| footing with thane or nobleman Of the first
| rank. The owners Of the Portland were not
seeking nobility, but money, which Is more
| powerful They had ton hand part Of the
| Calcutta cargo, and they decided to ship 1t to
| the Mediterranean, with Crpt. Silsby as mas
ter Of the ship. The invoice Of the cargo in:
cluded 400 quintals Of fish, 225 barrels OF
/ picked salmon, 131 hogsheads Of sugar.
This was the same sugar imported from Cal
| cutta In bags, and 10 valued In the invoice at
| S1S9O00 Israel Th0rndiks Of Beverley also
shipped goods to Cadiz on freight l know
| nothing Of the result Of this voyage, but
that the ship brought brandy and nuts from
| Barcelona. The ship was in Boston again
i in the summer Of 179S.
The ship was to be again sent to the Med
| iterranean, which was swarming with bellig-
| erent cruisers of nearly all European powers
/ and the Barbary states. The owners OF the
Portland determined to make a scarecrow
man-of-war of her before sailing. She must
have had ports for Is guns mounted.
In Preble's account Of her outfit, he charged
| the ship with ten iron guns and carriages,
| eight wooden guns and carriages, blunder-
buses, mnskets, a bostswain's call, hye
casks powder, 100 round shot, and twenty
canister do, drum and pipe. The master Of
| the ship for this voyage was Robert Feel,
| with Nathaniel Amory OF Boston, supercargo.
Amory afterwards married Eben fIeple
daughter Mary. As these were troubulous
| times In the commercial world, the instruc-
tions given by the owners to the supercargo
| and captain Of the ship are interesting as
| they give good idea OF the situation.
| To Amory they wrote Dec. 4, 1798, after
| the preliminaries, I'VE request you to pro-
| ceed to some convenient port in or near the
| Mediterranean, and there obtain what infor-
nation you can respecting the markets for
| your cargo. You will then proceed to that
market you think best, taking into view the
| purchasing OF q return cargo of brandy.
Though you may find the markets high at
| Naples for the sale of your outward cargo,
| no goods of consequence can be obtained
there suitable for this market. We should,
| therefore, prefer Spanish port, on Legh0rn
| to Naples. Probably you can sell your fish
at Malaga, Alicant. or Barcelona. At either
of these places you could obtain brandy.
| You could proceed from thence with your
sugars to any other port higher up, and on
| your return load at your first port of dis
| charge. The net proceeds Of our ten boxes
| Of sugar and salmon, after paying the neces-
sary charges of the ship, we would have in
vested in women's kid gloves, or silks suit
able for this market. III you can obtain eight
dollars per quintal for your fish. we would
advise you to sell. Write US by every oppor-
nifty via Lisbon. London and Hamburg
i ~ 80